


Shatterphonology

by artificiallifecreator



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Child Language Development, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 17:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18706891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificiallifecreator/pseuds/artificiallifecreator
Summary: Early Single WordsIn the early single word period, a child’s production vocabulary consists of very few words, none, if any, resemble the adult forms (Hoff, 2013). They tend to be holophrastic utterances as a child will use a nonword if their utterance really is only one word long (Clark, 2009).AnalysisFei Yen is three months past her first words, and the quality of her productions are hindered by her still-developing brain (Goodluck, 2001), so she is only capable of speaking one word at a time and without any prosodic notions, like contrastive stress:: 7. Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma."If Fei Yen could speak in an adult like manner, she would have said, “I didn’t say ‘llama’, I said /lambda.” Early pronouns, like “I”, negations, and contractions will not appear until after she can speak in two-word utterances (Brown, 1973) and she will not have enough articulatory control to produce contrastive stress until she is almost three (Stilwell-Peccei, 2006).As is typical of children in the early single word period, Fei Yen cannot produce the fricative [ð] and substitutes [d] in its place:: 3. Fei Yen points. “Da one.”The lateral liquid [l] also causes her difficulty, so she replaces it as well, this time with the nasal [n], and deletes final consonant, [d]:: 13. Fei Yen giggles. "Nama."Children tend to reduplicate the first syllable (partial, in the case of [7, 9, 13]) and delete the final consonant ([d] in [3, 7, 9, 13]).Both [d] and [n] are early acquired sounds, the former of which consistently appears across children’s early production vocabulary (Hoff, 2013). As for why children’s phonological processes replace targets with sounds they cannot produce in other environments, in this case, the fricative [s] another fricative, [ʃ], no one really knows (Lust, 2006):: 11. Fei Yen makes a show of thinking about it, then nods. "Yesh."Also illustrated, in [9], is children's ability to recognize their own deformations; that is, they are saying the target word perfectly but they cannot produce it and they know it (Lust, 2006):: 6. "This is lambda.": 7. "Naaama.": 8. He stifles a laugh. "Llama?": 9. Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma."





	1. Chapter 1

Thirteen months (one year, one month, thirteen days)--2017 February 19 (Sunday).

Hermann (27;8.10, White (German), Chief of Science) sits on the ladder in front of a chalkboard, Fei Yen perched on his arm.

"Which one shall we learn today?" he asks.

Fei Yen (1;1.13, Chinese, Marshal's daughter) points. "Da."

"This one?"

Fei Yen nods.

"This is lambda."

"Naaama."

Hermann stifles a laugh. "Llama?"

Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma."

"May I call it 'llama', anyway? I much prefer it to Lambda."

Fei Yen makes a show of thinking about it, then nods. "Yesh."

He draws ears and a tail on the letter. "The Greek letter llama."

Fei Yen giggles. "Nama."

Hermann shifts her on his arm. "I use it for wavelengths and semantics and also for calculating how much hay to buy." He 'corrects' another one. "The llama equation. The most irate constant in all mathematics."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Early Single Words**  
>  In the early single word period, a child’s production vocabulary consists of very few words, none, if any, resemble the adult forms (Hoff, 2013). They tend to be holophrastic utterances as a child will use a nonword if their utterance really is only one word long (Clark, 2009).
> 
>  **Analysis**  
>  Fei Yen is three months past her first words, and the quality of her productions are hindered by her still-developing brain (Goodluck, 2001), so she is only capable of speaking one word at a time and without any prosodic notions, like contrastive stress:
> 
> : 7. Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma."
> 
> If Fei Yen could speak in an adult like manner, she would have said, “I didn’t say ‘llama’, I said /lambda.” Early pronouns, like “I”, negations, and contractions will not appear until after she can speak in two-word utterances (Brown, 1973) and she will not have enough articulatory control to produce contrastive stress until she is almost three (Stilwell-Peccei, 2006).
> 
> As is typical of children in the early single word period, Fei Yen cannot produce the fricative [ð] and substitutes [d] in its place:
> 
> : 3. Fei Yen points. “Da one.”
> 
> The lateral liquid [l] also causes her difficulty, so she replaces it as well, this time with the nasal [n], and deletes final consonant, [d]:
> 
> : 13. Fei Yen giggles. "Nama."
> 
> Children tend to reduplicate the first syllable (partial, in the case of [7, 9, 13]) and delete the final consonant ([d] in [3, 7, 9, 13]).
> 
> Both [d] and [n] are early acquired sounds, the former of which consistently appears across children’s early production vocabulary (Hoff, 2013). As for why children’s phonological processes replace targets with sounds they cannot produce in other environments, in this case, the fricative [s] another fricative, [ʃ], no one really knows (Lust, 2006):
> 
> : 11. Fei Yen makes a show of thinking about it, then nods. "Yesh."
> 
> Also illustrated, in [9], is children's ability to recognize their own deformations; that is, they are saying the target word perfectly but they cannot produce it and they know it (Lust, 2006):
> 
> : 6. "This is lambda."  
> : 7. "Naaama."  
> : 8. He stifles a laugh. "Llama?"  
> : 9. Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma."


	2. Making a Note, Here

(4 ½ months)  
  
“Have a seat, Nurse Miyahira,”   
  
Miyahira sits.   
  
“No testing.”   
  
“No testing,” Miyahira agrees.   
  
“And you’ll watch her—”   
  
“Yep!”   
  
“—as a child and not a test subject.”  
  
“Pinky promise.”  
  
“Very well,” Xiong kisses Fei Yen’s crown, smooths her wispy hair, and settles her in Miyahira’s arms.   
  
.  
  
Seti, arms full of Fei Yen, catches the eye of a maintenance worker driving a cart.   
  
“Need a lift?” they ask.   
  
Fei Yen gurgles.   
  
“If you’re headed in the general direction of the marshal’s quarters,” replies Miyahira.   
  
“Hop on,” offers the worker.   
  
Fei Yen makes happy sounds.   
  
“Thank you!”   
  
“You’re very welcome.” Announces, “Vroom vroom!”, twists the key—  
  
''Beep-Beep!''  
  
Fei Yen makes happier sounds.   
  
—and chauffeurs them through the halls.   
  
.  
  
“Thank you very much,” says Miyahira.   
  
“You’re very welcome.” The worker tips their hat. “Have a good day.”  
  
“Thanks, you, too!”   
  
The worker restarts the cart—  
  
 _Beep-Beep!_  
  
—and drives off.   
  
Miyahira lets her and Fei Yen into the marshal’s suite and heads to Fei Yen’s room. “Sorry, Feiji,” she says gently, laying Fei Yen on the playmat, “It’s tummy time.”   
  
Fei Yen squalls and glares up at Miyahira.   
  
She notes the time, lies down beside her.   
  
.  
  
Child language production diary data—Xiong FY (0:4.18) and Miyahira S,  
Recorded 14:29, 24 May 2015 and thank heavens for air conditioning  
Marshal’s quarters  
[attachment: audio]  
  
14:29 – open-mid, back vocalic cries ( _researcher note: FY on playmate on tummy_ )  
  
14:30-32 – definite goos, only one coo; sonorants are more resonate than CLPDD_XFY_0:0.28 ( _researcher note: researcher has joined FY on playmate on tummy)_  
  
14:33-14:34 – ingressive back obstruent-like sounds, exhales are mostly soundless  
  
14:35 – half a raspberry dissolving into a giggle  
  
14:36 – squeaks and a trill, gurgling  
  
14:37 – voiced ‘yelling’—  
  
14:37a – _researcher note: I may have heard a voiced, dental consonant._   
  
***14:38-14:40 – extreme pitch slides, (reminiscent of(?)) growling and squealing  
  
14:41 – open back, vocalic —  
  
14:48 – researcher note: FY’s diaper changed.  
  
14:49 – velars. More velars. Glottal stop-ish, kinda muffled—   
  
14:49a – _researcher note: FY vocalizing around foot._  
  
14:50 – _researcher note: researcher has given FY a teething toy (a triceratops)_  
  
14:51 – FY gooing, kinda sounds like she’s saying ‘knaw knaw knaw’  
  
14:53 – the most adorable yawn /ever  
  
14:54 – _researcher note: ''FY showing signs of wanting a nap_  
  
 _researcher’s note: 'no sign of fricatives–can’t say I blame her, they_ suck _. (Goodluck, 2001)_

**Author's Note:**

> While I was getting my Bachelor of Cognitive Science, Major Linguistics, I found myself doing a heckuvalot of research into child language development--besides what I had to do for class--to ultra accurately portray an OC, so I asked on of my professors if I could maaaybe do an independent study with her and make use of these ficlets, and she /loved the idea! So, *law and order voice* these are those stories.


End file.
